A Simple Life
by Renee-chan
Summary: As much as Alex was going to be feeling the effects of this for days, he was equally sure that he was going to walk away with nothing more than a smattering of impressive bruises... because these days even the fucking Beast had more control than he did. - Hank "Beast" McCoy/Alex "Havoc" Summers, mild dubcon until the boys get themselves sorted out -


OK. Here it is. The last of the three Rare Pair 2012 fics I wrote, this one a treat, because when I saw the prompt, I was slammed by this image I couldn't get out of my head and it demanded to be written. Maybe it was reactionary to all the femslash I've been writing. ;)

**Title:** A Simple Life  
**Fandom:** X-Men: First Class  
**Pairing:** Hank McCoy/Alex Summers  
**Rating:** NC-17  
**Word Count:** 7,003  
**Warnings:** Graphic depictions of sexual situations; slash (M/M); **mild dubcon** until the boys get themselves sorted out - if that's not your cup of tea, there's no shame in it... but please don't read it. Thanks! ^_^

**Disclaimer:** _X-men_ does not belong to me. It belongs to wow. A whole bunch of people. No harm was meant. I'm just playing with them, I'll put them back where I found them when I'm done.

**Summary:** "As much as Alex was going to be feeling the effects of this for days, he was equally sure that he was going to walk away with nothing more than a smattering of impressive bruises... because these days even the fucking Beast had more control than he did. And he wasn't going to stop until Alex yelled "Uncle." Only Alex had never yelled "Uncle" in a fight in his life."

_**September 8, 2012:**_ Oh, Rare Pair Fest 2012 has been such fun. I wasn't going to write any treats. I really wasn't. And then way down towards the bottom of the list, I saw this request. And growly, possessive sex is one of my favorite kinks and is the fic I'd have requested for these two if I'd thought to request it. So. There we are. I couldn't resist. Enjoy?

* * *

**A Simple Life**  
_by Renee-chan_

Alex Summers was a simple man at heart. He didn't enjoy complications and when faced with them, had a tendency to duck and hide until they either cleared up... or didn't. Unfortunately, until now his life had been one big complication after another - the awakening of his powers, his arrest, his relocation to Xavier's "school", his new friends, his new enemies, having to hide who he was from the general public at large. It was maddening because it never _stopped_.

Some men enjoyed complications. The Professor, for example, thrived on them. They were his bread and butter. A complication was a puzzle to be solved, a solution to be applied, a wonderful thing to occupy his not-insignificant intelligence. Eric, too, thrived on complications. Hell, the two of them spent their free hours playing chess which was nothing _but_ complications. Alex couldn't see how that could possibly be relaxing. Then again... Alex liked things simple. But it seemed as though, at least for the time being, his life was going to remain one... giant... complication.

So could he really be blamed if he took every opportunity that he could to indulge in things that were simple? Running the track around the mansion was simple. Learning to control his powers might not be simple, but it simplified his _life_, so Alex was all for it. Taking advantage of the mansion's ample kitchens and giant swimming pool was simple. Watching TV was simple. Flirting with Raven was simple. The alpha-male posturing between Alex and the other boys was simple, as natural as breathing, and Alex was good at it, always had been. Born with a handsome face, a propensity for just enough musculature to be useful without being overbearing, a smile that could melt hearts and charm minds... and a chip on his shoulder the size of Texas, Alex had practically been born to be an alpha male. This complication with his powers had thrown a wrench into the works that his life had never quite recovered from, but in this little microcosm of the world that was the Professor's house he could forget all that and just let his life be simple... so he indulged.

Alex befriended Sean easily. Sean was a nice boy, friendly, charming - but not charming enough to challenge Alex's status at the top of the heap - and eager to please. He was an omega male made something more than he knew what to do with by his powers. Alex pitied him a little, but he enjoyed spending time with him, nonetheless, found that he could trust him the way he'd trusted few others in his short life. And the hero worship that poured off the other boy whenever he was in Alex's presence was the surest balm for a rough day as Alex had ever had. Simple... mostly. It was simple to be Sean's friend, simple to rely on him for support, simple to trust that there would never be a challenge there... until the day Sean spread his wings and learned to fly. It didn't really change things between them, but it made Alex aware of exactly how sharply and painfully he envied Sean sometimes. He envied Sean his carefree attitude. He envied Sean that his "curse" was completely and wholly hide-able... and he envied Sean more than anything that his curse came with such a precious gift tucked under its arm. To fly... how must that feel? Mostly Alex was able to put it from his mind, to focus on simpler things. He had to. His envy of his friend was a complication... and Alex didn't like complications.

Alex flirted with Raven because she was beautiful and witty and a good match for any man. He flirted with her because it came as naturally as breathing, but he never expected it to amount to anything. Raven was hung up on Erik and until she got past it, she would belong to no one else. Alex ignored as best he could that she seemed to flirt with the bozo with as much ease as Alex did with her. It didn't make sense. In his world, Raven would have been the cheerleader, Alex the captain of the football team and Hank the geeky AV kid. In his world, the cheerleader never fell for the geeky AV kid. It didn't make sense. It didn't fit into his context of the mansion as a simple world. It was a complication so, he ignored it.

But that was just the problem. Alex couldn't ignore the bozo. In a world microcosm led by two men who were far too intelligent for their own good - one of whom would _never_ have been captain of the football team and the other of whom wouldn't have bothered to try - and who loved complications... the bozo often came out on top. And Alex couldn't stand that. The boy was brilliant. Alex would give him that. But the brilliant, geeky kid just did not come out on top. He didn't get taken into the leader's confidence. He didn't get the cheerleader. He didn't... he just didn't. The bozo should have been like Sean - an omega male, happy to sit at Alex's side and worship, happy to cheer when Alex got the cheerleader and impressed when he finally controlled his powers and took his place as strike leader of their little group.

But, he didn't.

Hank McCoy didn't know, or didn't understand, that his place in this hierarchy was not at the top. He didn't understand that he wasn't destined to lead. He didn't understand that he wasn't supposed to get the girl. He didn't understand that he was supposed to play second fiddle to the ones who did. He refused to play the role he was cast for in this little microcosm of a world and it was a **giant** complication right in the middle of Alex's life. And Alex didn't... like... complications.

Alex didn't like to admit it, but Hank brought out the worst in him. He brought out the bully in him. Alex tried to put a good face on it, to pretend that it was good-natured teasing, not the bullying it was, but the Professor saw through it and the sting of his constant disappointment was _another_ complication that Alex didn't need... but that still wasn't the worst of it.

No. The worst complication of all, was the bozo's little experiment gone so horribly wrong. Why? Because the Beast... the Beast had all of Hank's aborted alpha-male tendencies and, for the first time in his life, the power to back them up. And the Beast played beta male to no one. And what was left of Alex's happy little microcosm of a world ended up upended it on its ear.

Erik betrayed them, took Shaw's place as his rightful heir. The Professor, the man Alex would have followed to the ends of the earth and back, was now tethered to the ground, trapped in a broken body that would never walk again. Raven... Mystique. She was the hardest blow of all. She belonged to Erik, body, mind and soul, and Alex had been a fool to ever think that there could have been a time when that wouldn't be so. Sean... Sean was still there. Charming, supportive, adoring... but not worshipping. Not anymore. He'd found his own strength, a quiet core of it that ensured he'd never be an omega male again. And then there was the bozo... the Beast... Hank. In spite of now having no way to hide and being forever barred from polite human society, Hank reveled in his new strength, his new purpose, his new lease on life. It was as though he was now who he had always been meant to be, as if his lanky human shell had merely been holding him back, hiding the glory which had been his all along.

Complications. And Alex _hated_ complications.

When they returned to the mansion, the others all made themselves busy, found work to do, purposes to fulfill, but in this new world - this world built of complications - Alex... a simple man... was nothing more than a weapon. He was a gun to be aimed where the Professor would and he had no useful skills beyond that. It left him low man on the totem and _worse_... it left him feeling useless.

This day had been worse than usual. He'd picked a fight with Sean - because even he didn't dare pick one with the bozo anymore - and it had ended badly. Sean's voice had hitched on the words as he'd explained that he knew Alex was frustrated and he sympathized, but that it wasn't right to take out that frustration on his friends. Then he'd fled... strapped on his wings and flown off somewhere that Alex couldn't reach him. It had made Alex more aware than ever that that plural on "friends" was a bit of a misnomer... because Sean was the only real one he had.

Alex had picked a fight with the Professor, too, but Charles Xavier understood the human condition all too well and understood his students even better than that and refused to be provoked. He'd merely smiled that gentle, sad smile which was the only smile he'd worn since Erik and Raven had left, and suggested that Alex take his frustrations outside to the target range and get in some practice if he needed something to do. Feeling surly and unsettled, Alex had nonetheless followed the Professor's instructions, if only to get out of the man's hair. He didn't need yet another person he cared about upset with him. So, he'd gone outside. He'd shot at some targets. He'd torn some gouges in the earth around the targets, too, because he just couldn't focus. He'd ripped up one of the Professor's flower beds, too. It was the bozo's favorite. Maybe that hadn't been an accident.

And maybe it had also been no accident that the bozo didn't reveal himself until after Alex had given him that excuse to wipe the floor with him. Alex wasn't even really sure how it had happened. He'd torn up the flower bed with one ill-aimed blast and as he'd stood there, chest heaving, eyes wild, trying to rein himself back in, a quiet voice, full of growl, had asked, "What did the lavender ever do to you, Havoc?"

Havoc. His name. Beast never seemed to call him by anything else, when he deigned to call him anything at all. Alex had clenched his fists, turned in the direction of the voice. Beast was hanging upside down from one of the nearby trees, essentially in his underwear, a book forgotten in his hand as he frowned at the destroyed flowerbed. It should have been laughable. It should have been ridiculous. But nothing about the bozo was laughable anymore... because only a fool laughed at the Beast. Alex had forced his fists to relax, forced a nonchalance into his voice that belied the adrenaline that surged through him whenever he confronted the Beast and said, "Nothing. Just bad aim."

The Beast had frowned, put a hand to the ground and neatly flipped himself over to stand towering over Alex, "That's some mighty bad aim, Havoc. The targets are behind you. Maybe _you_ need glasses, too, hm?"

Alex had readied himself to engage in a verbal sparring match that he knew he was bound to lose... and that was when the world flipped upside down and exploded. There was pain, there was confusion, and Alex was pretty sure he saw the ground where the air should be more than once. And throughout the beating - Alex knew better than to call it a fight when he was this sorely outmatched - he was aware that the Beast was just... playing with him. He was being _toyed_ with. As much as Alex was going to be feeling the effects of this for days, he was equally sure that he was going to walk away with nothing more than a smattering of impressive bruises. Nothing would be broken. Nothing would impair him if they needed him for a fight... because these days even the fucking _Beast_ had more control than he did. And he wasn't going to stop until Alex yelled "Uncle."

Alex had never yelled "Uncle" in a fight in his life.

What felt like an eternity later, but in reality had probably not been more than a few minutes, there was a pause in the rhythm of the punches. Alex found himself on his back with the Beast crouched on top of him, softly snarling into his face. It took him another precious minute to hear that there were words hidden in the snarls and another minute past that to understand any of them, "...so freaking _arrogant_. So caught up in being _popular_, in being _liked_, in being _perfect_. We're not perfect. _None_ of us are perfect. We're _mutants_. We're the very definition of not fucking perfect." If Alex had been able to do more than lay dazed as the Beast shook him with every soft snarl, he'd have started at the sound of that curse word. The bozo didn't curse. Clearly the Beast did. The Beast continued, "You're so busy feeling sorry for yourself you don't see how much good you can do, what advantages you have that the rest of us don't. _Moron._" With that last word, he slammed Alex back against the ground and leaned back on his haunches.

Alex moaned softly, raised a hand to rub at his head where it had impacted the ground. After a moment of tense silence, Alex muttered, "What the hell are you babbling about, bozo?" then froze. Shit. He hadn't meant to call him... damn it. He closed his eyes and braced himself for another beating.

It never came. When he pried his eyes open again, the Beast was smiling. Granted, with all those pointy teeth, it wasn't as reassuring as most smiles, but Alex figured he wasn't going to look a gift beast in the mouth. The Beast said, "I never thought I'd be glad to hear you call me that." At Alex's completely floored look, he said, "Mystique's idea of 'mutant and proud' is... it's not easy to live up to. At least before, when people looked at me askance, it was for my brain, not my..." he waved a hand at himself and said, "This." He sighed, "I'm learning to accept who I am now, blue fur and all, but it isn't easy and sometimes... I guess I miss being just 'bozo.'"

Alex opened and closed his mouth and finally said, "Well, but that's... that's... that's _dumb_!"

"Really," the Beast said. "Dumb. Coming from you, that's a bit much."

Alex shook his head and half sat up, "You're stronger than anyone I know, now. No one in their right mind would mess with you. Having been bullied all your life, I'd think that this would be the kind of thing you'd, you know... dream about, or something. I mean, look what you did to _me_ just now! You could never do that before. The best you could ever manage was to run away. Doesn't being stronger make you happy?"

The Beast sighed, turned away to look at the book that had tumbled to the ground when he'd leapt for Alex and said, softly, "You mean, 'Is it better to be feared than loved?' Our Machievelli over there, would insist that it is, that as a ruler, one should always prefer to be feared." He turned back, eyes sad as he regarded Alex, "I don't want to be feared. I never wanted to be feared. I wanted friends. I wanted to fit in. I wanted to be _like everybody else_." He grabbed Alex by the shirt and shook him again, "I wanted all those things that come to you as easy as breathing. You're handsome. You're charming. You're charismatic. And now that you can control your powers," he raised an eyebrow as he muttered sardonically, "When you choose to, at any rate," before continuing in a normal speaking voice, "you are free to move about in society and be _anything you wish to be_. And instead of taking advantage of that freedom, you hide yourself in the mansion and indulge in self-pity. If I were you..." He shook Alex again, "You want this strength? Well, I want _that_. I want to be _you_, Alex Summers. With your looks and your charisma, you could write your own ticket anywhere you wanted to go. So why don't you?" He then pushed Alex away from him again in disgust.

For a minute, Alex couldn't think of a single thing to say. This was more words than he'd heard the bozo _ever_ speak all together and it was more words than he'd ever heard the Beast speak, period. He'd had no idea. None... Finally, he said, "I just... damn it, Hank, I feel so damned useless! I'm not crafty and visionary like the Professor. I'm not as people-friendly and sweet as Sean and I'm not as smart and creative as you. I'm just... I'm just Alex Summers. There's nothing special about me other than this freakish power that does nothing but hurt the people I care about!"

The Beast had frozen, gone still like a predator does when stalking its prey. He slowly turned back to face Alex and growled out, "What did you say?"

Hastily, Alex tried to backpedal out of whatever he'd said wrong this time, but he didn't get very far before the Beast grabbed his shirt again and lifted his torso from the ground until they were nose to nose, "What did you call me?"

Alex froze, too, then, and his mind started gibbering in panic. He said the only thing that came to mind - the truth, "...Hank."

The Beast smiled again and it was not an entirely nice smile, "That may be the first time you've ever used my name. Why did you do it? Are we 'equals' now, _Alex_? Do I finally rate as good as you now that I can beat you senseless with one hand tied behind my back?"

Alex shoved against the Beast's chest, something small and terrified in his brain squealing that he needed to get out of this situation _now_, that he, in fact, should have gotten out of this situation twenty minutes ago, "That's not... I didn't... you know what, Bozo? Fuck you!" That fear was wearing away at his control, pricking away at his ability to keep himself in check and he could feel the power starting to build inside him, could feel it starting to seek an outlet. And when he felt that and realized how close the bozo was to him, pressed chest to chest and nose to nose as they were... if he lost control of himself, now, he'd rip the other mutant in half with the uncontrolled blast of his power. It didn't matter that they'd never really gotten along in the past - the bozo... the Beast... _Hank_ was one of the only people Alex had left that he gave an honest shit about at all. He would _not_ be responsible for hurting him, not if he had anything to say about it. He started struggling in earnest.

It was the wrong move. The part of the Beast that was a predator was roaring just as out of control as Alex was right then and he responded to the struggling creature beneath him as any predator would. He pinned him to the ground, hands gripping, claws pricking through clothing as he leaned in and lightly clamped his teeth around the racing pulse point in Alex's neck - not enough to hurt, certainly not enough to kill, just enough to warn Alex against any other sudden movements. A low growl teased out from behind those bared teeth and something soft and wet teased out, as well, took a lingering swipe against the skin clamped there. At the feel of the Beast's tongue taking its quick taste, Alex finally did something right.

He froze.

They were both panting - quick, frantic breaths - as they struggled within themselves, each trying desperately not to truly hurt the other. As close at they were, Alex could feel their bellies press together with each breath and deliberately focused on it, on inhaling only when the Beast exhaled and exhaling only when he inhaled. That gentle rhythm of inhale/exhale, exhale/inhale insinuated itself into the volatile situation and had a calming effect. Alex nearly sobbed, so great was his relief when he felt his own power answer that calming effect by easing down from its ready state. As the adrenaline faded, he started to shake. Too close. He'd come too damned close. He could have killed the- Hank. He could have killed Hank. He could have- He clamped down on those panicky thoughts before they could undo all the good he'd done with their little joint breathing exercise.

Alex didn't know how long they lay there like that, pressed belly to belly, slowly breathing together, Hank's teeth still anchored loosely around his pulse point, tongue pressed to it as though using the contact to monitor any new spikes in Alex's heart rate. Eventually, though, Alex started to become uncomfortable. One of Hank's hands had slid from his arm to his side and was gentle stroking him like one might a high strung horse - rib cage to the hollow beneath his ribs to his flank and thigh, then back up again to repeat the motion. Only... only it wasn't as soothing as Hank perhaps meant it to be. Maybe it was the adrenaline. Maybe it was the leftover fear. Maybe it was that Alex was so _damned_ tired of feeling alone. Whatever it was, that gentle stroking wasn't soothing. It was arousing.

Alex raised a hand to place on Hank's, tried to pushed that hand away from his side, to stop that incessant stroking, but Hank let out a low growl and clamped his teeth tighter around Alex's neck in response, pulled his body closer. As their hips pressed together, it became all too obvious that Alex wasn't the only one of the two of them affected by this whole mess. Shit. He pushed harder at Hank's hand, tried to at least squirm his hips away from that close contact. Wrong move, again.

Hank growled louder, shifted the grip of his teeth to the base of Alex's throat... the more easily to crush his windpipe if he moved, Alex suspected. The hand not stroking Alex's side slowly, gently - almost without Alex noticing it, even, as focused as he was on the teeth around his throat - teased his hands up from his sides. He didn't fully realize what Hank was about until he had both of Alex's wrists pinned to the ground over his head.

That was when Alex began struggling in earnest, almost uncaring if it roused the Beast back into his earlier anger. _Anything_ would be better than... better than... _Shit._

Of course, he didn't stand a chance. The Beast was stronger than him, it wasn't even a question, and unless Alex was willing to let his power be his answer and rip the Beast apart... he wasn't getting free like this. And he wasn't willing. He'd die, himself, before he risked hurting a friend... and Hank _was_ a friend and he knew it. Abandoning that tactic and feeling his chances for getting away disappearing one by one, Alex whimpered deep in his throat. Hank ground down against him in answer and Alex gasped.

Alex lay there, heart racing, desperately trying to think of a way out that wouldn't get one or both of them dead and, at the same time, alternately praying both that the Professor would focus this way and intervene and that he would never, ever, _ever_ find out about this. After another few minutes of panic, Alex finally came upon an answer. What had this all been about, really? Looking back, he thought he could almost see it. Hank - the human side of Hank - had always envied Alex. Alex had known it, had even played into it, ruthlessly abusing that jealousy to make himself feel more in control. He'd known it was wrong at the time, but damn it, he couldn't help it! The human side of Hank wanted a little payback, wanted to take it out of Alex's hide that he had everything Hank had ever wanted and was squandering it.

The Beast, on the other hand... the Beast didn't care about that. The Beast just cared about the fact that Hank had suffered in beta-male status for months... years... decades... and he was finally strong enough to make a bid for alpha. And he wasn't giving up until Alex yielded that place.

So, the only way for Alex to get them out of this was to do exactly that. To yield. If he had it in him to do it. After another frozen minute, Alex finally got his muscles to unlock and forced them to relax. At first the Beast gripped him tighter, not trusting this new movement, but when Alex tipped his head back, arching his back to further bare his throat, hoping that that was a signal the Beast would understand... that grip relaxed, too, and slowly lowered Alex to the ground. Alex swallowed hard against the teeth still wrapped around his throat and whispered, "Hank... Hank, you've got to let me go. Please."

In answer, Hank let up the pressure of his teeth, then released them entirely to slowly lean back to meet Alex's eyes. Seeing the wariness there, he ground down against him again, "Alex... I'm the Beast. I don't _have_ to do anything I don't want to do."

Alex's heart skipped a beat then started thundering in his ears, "You... Hank..." His face flushed a furious scarlet as Hank sneered down at him, started idly stroking his side, again. Alex jerked away from that touch and yelled, "Well, what the fuck do you want, then?"

Hank smiled that Beast-smile at him again and said, "I already told you what I _want_, Alex Summers. I want to be you." He laughed low in his throat as he forced a leg between Alex's to press against him, "But since I _can't_ be you... how about we'll just say that I want _you_, instead?"

Alex's mouth dropped open and he shook his head, "You... but..." When Hank just arched an eyebrow at his ineffective stuttering, Alex tried to buck him off again. Again, he failed. All he succeeded in doing was in causing the Beast to press his bulk down harder against him so there was no escape from that contact. In pure frustration and a not insubstantial amount of fear, Alex pleaded, "Don't do this. Hank... _please_ don't do this. This isn't _you_. You... you're kind and you're meticulous and you fucking _care_ about everything. Don't let the Beast turn you into someone who could do this!"

Their eyes met over Alex's heaving chest and for a moment... two moments... three... the Beast hesitated. And in that moment of hesitation, Alex saw Hank in the Beast's eyes. But even as Hank's eyes filled with regret, with apology, with self-loathing, the Beast tightened his grip on Alex's wrists, snarled through his teeth at the war raging between his opposing impulses. Finally, Hank said, "I'm sorry. Alex, I'm sorry. I didn't... I didn't mean to... I can't..."

Alex's eyes filled with sympathy at that all-too-familiar mantra and he folded his fingers down to touch the ones engulfing his wrists. Softly, he said, "You have a dangerous power you can't control. And it gets away from you sometimes and hurts the people you care about." When Hank's eyes widened in surprised agreement, Alex smiled wryly at him and said, "Yeah... I get that."

Something soft slid in behind Hank's eyes then and he leaned down to nuzzle into Alex's neck, to whisper softly against the still-damp skin there, "I guess you do, Havoc. You're probably the only one who does."

Though a small part of him was panicking over the returned proximity of the Beast's teeth to his neck, Alex firmly told it to shut up and leaned his head down to rest against Hank's. As weird - hell, as _terrifying_ - as this whole thing had been, in this one moment of connection, in being able to be there for Hank in a way no one else could have been... For a change, Alex didn't feel useless. He felt important. He felt needed. He felt...

Seconds after pressing that kiss into the soft fur at the Beast's temple and the Beast responding by jerking back upright and clenching his wrists so tightly that Alex winced, Alex had to admit that what he _felt_ was like an idiot, "Sorry. Sorry. Shit. Hank, I'm sorry. That was stupid. I don't even... I don't know... fuck. Can we just chalk that up to adrenaline-wrought insanity and forget I did that?"

Only the person looking at him out of the Beast's eyes wasn't entirely Hank anymore. It was an odd mixture of Hank and the Beast. And the Beast... well. The Beast still had his knee between Alex's legs and his erection pressed against Alex's hip. _Shit_. But it was Hank that got out their response, "Alex... is your objection based on not wanting to be forced? Or is it that you don't want _me_?" Before Alex could even answer, Hank said, "Because I can certainly understand the former and believe me, forcing you is the _last_ thing that I want to do, but if it's the latter... Alex, I think we've gone too far here for me to be able to convince the Beast to let you go. You... you changed something in him when you yielded before. He thinks... He thinks you..."

Ice flooded Alex's veins, "He thinks I'm his prize. His spoils of war, so to speak." It took everything in him to get the last words out, "He thinks I belong to him."

"Yes." The voice that uttered that word was defeated, dejected and full of so many regrets and apologies that Alex couldn't even identify them all.

Alex closed his eyes and made a hard decision very fast. He could struggle to get away. He could fight. Hell, he could kill Hank - and he wasn't fooling himself, if this devolved back into a fight, one of them dying was a real possibility unless the Professor intervened - but what would that prove? Nothing. Or... he could yield. Everything. And as he had that thought, a sense of... of... fuck, of _relief_ flooded through him. Alex had never wanted to be in charge. He'd wanted to sit in his quiet little corner in his quiet little cell and just not hurt anybody. That was easy. It was simple. It was all he'd ever wanted. So, why had he been fighting so hard to hold onto the complications? This... it shouldn't be complicated. It should be simple. Hank needed him. Alex needed to be needed. Ignoring all the rest of the trappings, this was a win-win situation.

Alex stared up into Hank's eyes until the other mutant finally broke and met his gaze. Once he had eye contact, Alex simply nodded once and said... "OK."

And right then it was almost all worth it - all the pain, all the fear, all the fucked up everything that had gone on before - just to see the Beast's jaw drop as he gaped at him in pure Hank-level confusion. Alex couldn't help it. He laughed. And as Hank's eyes began to narrow in irritation, Alex let out a dramatic sigh and muttered softly, but with feeling, "Bozo."

That accomplished what he'd wanted and as the Beast leaned down to snarl into his face, Alex rocked up and pressed their lips together. Now it was the Beast's turn to freeze.

Alex smirked against the Beast's lips as he gently coaxed them open, teased the other mutant's tongue until the Beast's instincts took over and he crushed Alex to him, plundering his mouth. It was... it was strange. Alex had never really given sex much thought before. Of any kind. He'd stayed away from regular girls because it wasn't safe. Being in solitary confinement had kept him away from any potential abuses by the other inmates. And even though Sean had hinted that Alex's attention would not be unwelcome... well... he just couldn't bring himself to do it, couldn't take that risk. But, this... holy fucking Jesus. Now that he wasn't fighting this anymore, Alex found himself enjoying it. There was something about the feel of those large, strong hands pinning him to an even stronger chest, the fact that at any moment, his tongue might come to grief on those sharp canines... the feeling that the only way he was getting away was if Hank _let_ him go... fuck. Suddenly, he was so hard he didn't even know what to do with it. All he knew was that he needed more and he needed it now.

Alex whimpered, rocked down hard against the Beast's knee, still pressed between his legs. The Beast answered by tearing his mouth away from Alex's and returning them to that spot in his neck where his pulse beat the strongest. And now that Alex knew that his life wasn't in danger - and more importantly, knew that Hank would make sure that the Beast didn't hurt him - Jesus fucking Christ, the feel of those teeth worrying at his pulse point while a tongue darted out between them to press against it just made him harder, still. He whimpered, rocked down again, this time at least managed to get out the word, "Please," between the whimpers.

That one word seemed to be all Hank needed. He released Alex's wrists and moved both his hands down to take hold of Alex's shirt and ripped it in half. Alex thought about protesting for the space of a second, but decided that one raggedy old sweatshirt was not worth his life. He _did_, however, make a noise of protest when Hank went to make similarly short work of his sweatpants and doubtless the boxers beneath them. At his objection, the Beast snarled down into his face, gripped the waistband of his sweats tighter. Alex yiped as a claw bit into his skin in the bargain, then said hastily, "Hank! Come on. I want my pants off as bad as you do right now, but I'm gonna need them later to get back into the mansion or someone's going to ask questions, OK? So... how about you let me take care of it?"

Alex watched, heart in his throat, aware that he was playing with fire. He watched as Hank fought to get control of the Beast long enough to understand that what Alex was asking was reasonable and a good idea. Alex knew he'd wrested that control when the Beast snapped the waistband of his sweats hard against Alex's skin and growled out, "Off. **Now**." Somehow Alex obeyed without shifting any part of himself out from under the Beast. He had a feeling that that might look like running away and that would be a bad idea. Of course, once he'd flung his last articles of clothing far off into the stand of trees, _that_ was when it suddenly hit him what he was about to do. And when the Beast peeled out of what served as his only article of clothing these days and Alex saw what he was hiding in all that fur... he panicked.

Before he could do something so stupid as to run, though, Hank grabbed him again, cradled his tense form against him and started up that soothing stroking again, this time curving that large hand around his back to smooth down over his ass, as well. And just as before, it was far from reassuring. The size of that hand... the size of those fingers... the size of... _shit_. He really hadn't thought this through.

Hank just kept holding onto him, though, rubbing that hand up at down until he started to relax again. Once Alex was able to listen, Hank managed to say, "I'm not going to lie to you, Alex. If you've never done this before, this is probably going to hurt. But if you do your best to keep from panicking so that I can keep control, then I _swear_ I will do everything in my power to keep from hurting you any more than is inevitable. OK?"

Alex let out a slightly hysterical laugh, "That's, uh... not the most reassuring speech I've ever heard, bozo."

"I wasn't trying to be reassuring," Hank said, "I was trying to give you the truth. If you fight, if you try to run, I won't be able to submerge the Beast's instincts, again. Alex, you need to know that." He leaned back and when their gazes met, there was something primal and vicious swimming in the depths of Hank's yellow eyes. Those eyes were feral... of the jungle. And they offered no quarter. He growled out, "You're **mine**, now, and I'm going to have you whether you like it or not." Hank fought for control again and achieved just enough of it to add, "But if it's all the same... I'd be far happier about this if you _did_ like it and I think it's safe to say that you would, too."

Alex swallowed around a suddenly dry throat and said softly, "What do you need me to do?"

Hank let out a breath and bent down to start nuzzling at Alex's chest, gently licking and nipping his way down the other mutant's torso to his stomach, his hips, his thighs... and eventually to what lay between them. Right before he engulfed Alex's member with his lips, he said, "Just yield, Alex. Relax and enjoy the ride. I'll take care of the rest." And as Hank took him down in one swallow, all Alex could do was nod and try his best to obey.

The rest of the encounter was just as much a blur as their earlier fight had been. Hank's fingers were everywhere - around his throat, stroking his back... inside him. And, shit, he hadn't been kidding. It _did_ hurt. Even Hank's fingers hurt, though he was as good as his word and did what he could to distract him, to make it easier. And by the time Hank had Alex folded over on his knees underneath him, completely covering him as he snarled out his possessiveness in Alex's ear and rutted inside him... it wasn't all pain. Alex wasn't entirely sure how it was possible, but there was a thread of pleasure running underneath the pain and as Hank finally growled out his orgasm, clamping his teeth into the flesh of Alex's shoulder as he buried himself inside him deeper even than he had before, Alex found his release right along with him.

The Beast slowly collapsed to the side, still buried to the hilt in Alex's ass. He pulled Alex along with him and curled around him to the point that Alex was barely visible between the blue furred limbs. Almost too exhausted to protest - but not quite - Alex murmured, "Hank... you... how about letting a guy get a little space?"

Hank merely growled, "Mine," into Alex's ear and shifted purposefully against him, pressing against that spot deep inside him that had sparked off that unexpected pleasure earlier. Alex groaned in answer as he felt himself stirring again right along with the Beast, "Oh, come on... Hank, that's just not fair."

This time, the Beast answered in Hank's more subdued tones as he quipped, "All's fair in love and war." As Alex shook his head and muttered, "Bozo," into the fur of the Beast's arm where it was pillowed under his head, Hank chuckled and simply said, "You know... there's actually something I've been wanting to try..." Before Alex could even think to protest, Hank cradled him close again, pressed even harder against that spot deep inside him and before Alex could decide if he wanted to squirm away or not, Hank took a deep breath... and began to purr. And the vibration of that purr combined with having Hank still thrust inside him against that spot... all Alex could do was arch back against the soft fur of Hank's belly and bite his lip to hold back the screams.

In answer, Hank ceased his purring and Alex almost screamed for an entirely different reason. He could hear the smirk in Hank's voice as he said, all seeming-innocence, "Oh wait... you wanted a little space."

Now it was Alex's turn to growl as he freed up an arm and reached up to grab onto Hank's ear and yank his face down next to Alex's, "Screw space. _Do that, again._"

Hank laughed, but there was a growl of warning underneath it, "Was that an order... Havoc?"

At that, Alex twisted around as much as he could in the Beast's embrace and grabbed a fistful of the Beast's facial fur to pull him closer. Even as the Beast hissed in surprise at that brief pain, his eyes widened - with... respect? - as this time Alex growled, "**Yes.** Do. That. Again," then sealed their lips together in a kiss. Startled by that reclaiming of control and the force with which Alex had done it when he'd had no leverage to speak of, the Beast complied and started up that rumbling purr, again. Alex merely smiled in satisfaction and, though he turned back away, pulled Hank's arm tight to his chest and murmured, "_Mine_."

Screw simple. Right then, Alex liked complications just fine.

* * *

**A/N:**

_Questions, comments, coconuts? ^_^_


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